The Mysterious Disappearance of the Yuba County 5 | 176
Hysteria 51
ForthHand Media
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2020
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In late February of 1978, five men were heading home from attending a college basketball game when they stopped for some snacks. This would be the last time the men were seen or heard from again (maybe). Thus begins the strange story of the Yuba County Five. What caused these men to drive the opposite direction of their homes in the dead of night? Why would they navigate up a snowy mountain road only to abandon their (perfectly good) car and set out on foot? Where is the fifth man whose remains were never found? And that’s only the tip of the iceberg on this truly bizarre and mystifying tale. We grab our flashlights and snowshoes to go in search of the Yuba County Five this week. Plus, Alexa tries to take over John’s hosting duties (might be an improvement), we discover that for some reason Conspiracy Bot has dry cleaning (he’ll try to explain), and the fellas spend way too much time examining an inane aspect of the story (translation: it’s just another episode). All of that and more on the podcast that NEVER leaves a candy bar half eaten (that will make sense later) – Hysteria 51.
Special thanks to this week’s research sources:
Research Assistant - Raymond Walden IV
Newspapers / Books
L.A. Times - Friday, March 10, 1978. p. 23.
L.A. Times - Monday, June 19, 1978. p. 22.
The Desert Sun – Thursday, March 09, 1978. p. A3
The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five: A collection of True Crime | Jessi Dixon
Videos
The STRANGE Disappearance of The Yuba County 5 - https://bit.ly/36UB846
BrainScratch: The Missing Five - https://bit.ly/2UupWYG
Websites
California Digital Newspaper Collection – The Desert Sun: https://bit.ly/35W96DQ
Charley Project - https://bit.ly/2TqGaRJ
Charley Ross - https://bit.ly/2tkzGJz
Deviation Diaries - https://bit.ly/2u2s9PS
Doe Network - https://bit.ly/30jqIIC
Lost & Found - https://bit.ly/35ZdNwY
Mental Floss - https://bit.ly/2Rftc6J
Morbidology - https://bit.ly/2NsByXL
r/UnsolvedMysteries - https://bit.ly/3873qZa
Ronan Willis - https://bit.ly/2NGzRpR
Strange Outdoors - https://bit.ly/2NruFWJ
The Sacramento Bee - https://bit.ly/2NGxF1B
The Sacramento Bee - https://bit.ly/2RdpzhI
Washington Post - https://wapo.st/2RfuBdD
Yuba City, California - https://bit.ly/3acLsWY
Yuba County - https://bit.ly/38amPZw
Yuba County Five – https://bit.ly/35Q6mrx
Missing Veterans – https://bit.ly/398UyTj
Web Sleuths – https://bit.ly/2Uprwed
Music
Nervous Piano – Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Happy Happy Game Show – Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
If you have information about Gary Mathias or the case – http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3509dmca.html
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Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | February 24th 1978, 5 men from Yuba City, California disappeared. |
| 0:09.6 | Bill Sterling, Jack Hewitt, Ted Weir, Jack Madruga, and Gary Mathias. |
| 0:15.0 | They had gone to a basketball game in nearby Chico, |
| 0:18.0 | but on their way back they drove up a snowy mountain road |
| 0:20.0 | the opposite direction of their homes. |
| 0:23.0 | Later their car was found there, undamaged, and with enough gas to drive back. |
| 0:28.0 | Sadly, four of the five men were found dead in and near a trailer on the mountain four months later. Outside of the trailer was enough food |
| 0:35.2 | to supply all five men for a year and enough paper and wood to light a fire. None was ever |
| 0:40.8 | lit. What drove them to go into the mountains? |
| 0:44.2 | Why did they abandon their car? |
| 0:46.2 | Why did they never light a fire? |
| 0:48.6 | Where's the fifth man? |
| 0:50.1 | It's the Yuba County Five, and it's next on hysteria 51. |
| 0:55.0 | They say I'm disturbed. |
| 0:57.0 | From city to city an incredible hysterical panic spread. |
| 1:00.0 | I think we're getting into a weird area here. |
| 1:02.0 | We use jeez me those are not crazy. |
| 1:05.0 | It's hysteria. |
| 1:07.0 | You can't handle the truth. |
| 1:10.0 | The brain is gone. |
| 1:12.0 | This is hysteria 51. |
| 1:15.0 | Here here. |
... |
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